Sunday, March 1, 2015

On her WellWell2 blog, Barbara discussed book reviews: what is included and what is not. I won't attempt to repeat what she so eloquently wrote, but I encourage you to visit the post if you have not already.

What caught my attention, however, is that Barbara no longer claims to write book reviews but rather... Reading Reactions. She distinguishes the two by audience: she now writes primarily for herself rather than avid readers in search of their next book. She writes more about how the book makes her think and feel, and writes less about literary analysis. Of course, avid readers will enjoy and benefit from such a post, but that is a secondary bonus.

When I recently returned to the book blogging community, I struggled with the concept of writing "real" book reviews versus personal opinions. I do not want to stress over writing these posts, but rather, I simply want to share my reading experience with like-minded people. I have since developed what I hope will be a manageable system for book reviews.

But I love Barbara's idea of a Reading Reaction. I did not want to steal her concept, but I did want to personalize it. In the end, I have decided to call my entries, Book Impressions.

I have a love affair with French Impressionism, and in my spare time dabble in writing a novel about that time period. These paintings are not exact replicas but rather impressions (expressions) of the subject matter. That is the concept I would like to bring here in documenting my reading life.

So thank you, Barbara, for liberating me from the "right" way to review and helping me to find freedom in writing what I feel.

Hopefully I will begin posting these Impressions soon (I have read about sixteen books so far this year), but in the meantime, I keep track of them in my reading notebook (which, by the way, I adore all the Compendium notebooks and journals).

While I still have a few books on my reading pile, namely Harriet the Spy and The Right Word (written by my college roommate!!), I will probably be spending most of my free time preparing for the upcoming trip to Europe.

I do plan to take my Kindle with me, however, and I know that we will have quite a bit of down time, especially on the night train between Paris and Milan. I am looking for ebook suggestions to download for that trip, if you have any.

I wish you all a great first-week-of-March. I am still in denial that two months have passed so far this year...